Video: 10 Minute IT Jams - Exploring Tech Futures Lab's Postgraduate Certificate in Connected Environments

The Internet of Things (IoT) is reshaping the landscape of business, technology, and society. This transformation is being fostered by dedicated education providers like Tech Futures Lab, whose postgraduate certificate in Connected Environments is at the forefront of IoT innovation in New Zealand.

Tech Futures Lab has developed the first postgraduate certificate in New Zealand to focus on the application of IoT and related connected technologies. "It's about using the internet of things and connected technologies to really help drive better insights and better decision outcomes and decision making," said Kriv Naik, lead innovation industry advisor to Tech Futures Lab. The Connected Environments programme, he explained, is designed for business professionals, technology practitioners, and community leaders who want to understand the value of data-driven insights and systems thinking.

The new qualification adopts a holistic approach to technology: it is not just about isolated devices or networks, but about leveraging interconnected sensor data to inform smarter choice-making across people, place, and the planet. "It applies specifically to business professionals, technology practitioners and community leaders who want to better understand how strategic data and data-driven insights can add value to their environments by applying systems thinking and the application of new technology," Naik said.

Naik's own career exemplifies the multi-disciplinary nature of IoT. He is not only an advisor to Tech Futures Lab but also the founder and current chair of the New Zealand Internet of Things Alliance, and heads a strategy advisory firm helping organisations navigate the disruptive effects of emerging technologies. "Within the IoT ecosystem, I'm particularly involved in mapping how actionable inside outcomes can be derived from IoT sensor collected data, and how this derived information and these insights can really drive new opportunities, new business models, but also in correlation with other exponential and structured technology areas like AI, machine learning, cloud, fog and edge computing, the increasing area of 5G and new wireless networks, augmented, virtual and mixed reality, and blockchain," he explained.

IoT is not just a technological revolution, but a cultural and conceptual shift. "IoT introduces massive new data collection and resultantly new insight perspectives from the analysis of all of this new data. These new insight perspectives challenge the status quo of ways we currently live and interact with our world and our lives and conduct business," Naik said.

Businesses benefit from IoT through enhanced decision making, competitive advantage, improved customer experiences, deeper operational insights, and greater efficiency. "IoT deployments will continue to become more strategic and cohesive in terms of that longer-term planning and decision making, rather than tactical and in silos as many deployments are now. So this strategic focus will enable disruption by new business models, not just for commercial gain or interest but increasingly so in the good for our planet," he added.

Central to the field's advancement is the interplay between IoT and other technologies. Naik was clear: "One really key thing to remember with IoT is IoT is not a standalone technology and it can't be implemented in that way. So it can't be designed or implemented in isolation." Instead, IoT is deeply connected to wider technological developments such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud and edge computing, and 5G networks.

Through the Connected Environments programme, the concept of IoT has shifted, as Naik explained: "We think about IoT not so much as being the internet of things but much more as the interface of things - how things connect, how they engage, how they interact, how they transact. And it's really in terms of these connection points hence the term connection environments for the course."

These connections facilitate new capabilities. AI and machine learning process IoT data to generate insights, while cloud and edge computing handle storage and processing according to requirements. The next generation of wireless networks enables IoT to be used at scale, opening possibilities for urban and rural applications alike. Augmented and virtual reality, as well as blockchain and decentralised networks, add further layers to this ever-expanding ecosystem, eliminating single points of failure and bringing IoT's benefits beyond city centres. "It's about bringing the value of IoT not just within our urban environments but increasingly so to provincial and rural New Zealanders," Naik observed.

But what should an organisation or individual consider when looking to leverage IoT? Naik's advice was to "start with data". "This is a very data centric model and we have to think about IoT in terms of that data centric approach so start with data and the insights you'd like for better decision making," he said. "It's adding IoT into that current lens of what you already have to enhance those future decision making capabilities."

The approach is thorough. Stakeholders are encouraged to consider which sensors would be needed, what communication networks are best for data transmission, the cloud platforms that would manage and analyse the information, and how best to present these insights in a way that creates value. "Most importantly, consider how best to present those insights back to your end users, stakeholders and customers. And as I mentioned previously it is then that connection and that interface between all of those other technology sets that really brings this to life," Naik explained.

Looking back to the origins of the New Zealand IoT Alliance, Naik recalled the early days of building the ecosystem. "When I had the idea for the New Zealand Internet of Things Alliance back in 2015, and really wanted to bring that ecosystem closer together, it was about creating more opportunities to really connect, promote and advance IoT across all areas not just technology but increasingly so in the business and market context," he said.

Inspired by ongoing enthusiasm for IoT and a shift towards more sustainable and ethical practices, Naik sees the Connected Environments programme as "enabling new creative and innovative connected IoT solutions to be explored and developed...in new and engaging environments, increasingly so for the full good environment and what's good for the planet, for place, for people, for prosperity."

He concluded, "I'm also inspired how these solutions are being considered using more sustainable, ethical and open approaches and that's quite exciting for the whole IoT ecosystem domain at the moment. It's fantastic to be involved in a programme like Connected Environments that really challenges the status quo and opens up new perspectives on how this technology can best be applied."